Tancredo Won't Seek New Term

The five-term member of the U.S. House and long-shot presidential candidate has decided he will not run for reelection in 2008, ending his congressional career as he continues to seek the White House.

His staff confirmed the decision, which Tancredo spilled first in an interview with the Rocky Mountain News Monday. "I really believe I have done all I can do in the House," Tancredo told the paper.

Tancredo has campaigned for the GOP nomination with zeal, focusing most of his passion on illegal immigration, which he cites frequently as the biggest problem the country faces.

In debates, at campaign stops and in campaign commercials, Tancredo pushes for strict border enforcement, construction of a border fence and efforts to return illegal immigrants to their native countries.

But his hard-line views on the issue have not translated into support in the polls, where he consistently languishes at the bottom of the contenders.

Nor has it earned him the support of the Republican money establishment, which has concluded that Tancredo's brand of aggressive, in-your-face confrontation about immigration is not what voters want.

Instead, the money has flowed to candidates like former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, whose records on immigration reform are less black-and-white.

Still, Tancredo has shown little desire to follow former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback out of the contest. Instead, he will abandon his House seat to devote his energies to the presidential campaign, his staff said.

His decision is another blow to Republicans in the effort to retake control of the House, where more than a dozen GOP incumbents have said they will not seek reelection.

I have to agree with you, it's those lousy liberals that got us into this war. And it's those lousy liberals that spend way too much of our hard earned money. And it's those lousy liberals who lie to the American people about weapons of mass destruction.

Oh wait, those were all republican lies and screwups! I'm sorry, I was wrong.

Hey Jeff, guess which lies from a president actually affected your life? 1. I didn't trade arms for hostages (gee, that made the middle east real safe, didn't it?). 2. "Read my lips, no new taxes" 3. "There are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." 4. "I didn't have sex with THAT woman".

If you picked 4, you are in desperate need of prescription medications.

Jeff,
I think windrider2 is the perfect example of what goes wrong for liberals. They think what their emotions tell them rather than what they actually see. She seems to believe that America has never taken ugly, drastic steps to defend herself and that cruel, corrupt, violent Hispanic third world culture is no worse than our own. I'm with you, I hope she lives long enough to sleep in the bed she's making.
Joe

Jeff,
I think windrider2 is the perfect example of what goes wrong for liberals. They think what their emotions tell them rather than what they actually see. She seems to believe that America has never taken ugly, drastic steps to defend herself and that cruel, corrupt, violent Hispanic third world culture is no worse than our own. I'm with you, I hope she lives long enough to sleep in the bed she's making.
Joe

I love how you liberal wack jobs from this 'news source' are dancing in glee that this man is stepping down. Just know, its in DISGUST from the institution we call 'congress' and its lack of being able to get ANYthing done, thanks to liberal scumbags like most of you. Its getting personal for me. I sure dont proclaim to be GOP anything, but liberals and the 'progressive' point of view disgust me, and you are killing our once proud country. God, I wish you could see yourselves, you scum. This man is the LONE voice, with a set of male organs, that can say what NEEDS to be said and done. Illegal immigration is killing our country. We are losing our identity more and more EVERY day. I would vote for this man in a heartbeat. And God help us if we get another bleeding heart 'progressive' to make an already bad situation, worse. Shame on you, and I hope you live to see your misery realized in your own hopeless way.

I'm an old woman (maybe even older than you) and I care about our culture, our values, our Constitution, and every single thing I referenced is corrupting or otherwise imperiling all three. We are STILL an English speaking country with most immigrants (legal or il-) learning to speak English, at least out in the workplace and schools. Animal cruelty, while illegal, is unfortunately frequent in one form oranother for reasons that have NOTHING to do with immigration, and the abuse of women is downright commonplace among born-in-the-USA anglos, Blacks, Native Americans and just about any other damned ethnic/racial group you can think of, even if phony lip service is still paid to the notion that it is somehow unacceptable, and that has nothing to do with illegal immigration either.

The culture of America is radically different from the America I was born in raised in. In THAT American culture, torture in any form would never have been accepted; is it the fault of illegal immigrants that we now not only tolerate it but cheer it? In THAT American culture,the seizure of millions of phone records, emails, financial and medical records of ordinary Americans, without a warrant or judicial oversight, would have spawned such a backlash that Congress and the White House would be falling all over themselves to end it; did illegal immigrants cause Americans to quit caring whether the Constitution means anything any more? In THAT American culture, a unilateral invasion and occupation of a country that did not attack us would never have been tolerated; did illegal immigrants cause Americans to start justifying being the world's bully?

Tancredo and those like him are diverting our attention, our energy, and our resources from issues that are destroying the American fabric and our place in a world rapidly losing respect and patience with our youthful nation. Is illegal immigration a problem? Yes. Is it our BIGGEST problem? Not even close.

Neither the republican or democratic big money donors give a rats ass about what kind of "in your face" or confrontational style a particular politician may have. All they care about is if the guy can win and if he will do their bidding if he does win. Just watch where the money goes after the first few primaries. As it becomes clearer who the republican front runner is, that is where the money will go. As Hillary began to do better than Obama in the polls her fundraising also improved.

It's simple, the donors are buying influence, but they are wise investors and they don't want to bet on a risky investment. If you invest early you presumably get the potential for greater returns (more favors for fewer dollars), but you risk investing in the loser. If we don't get all this money out of politics we have no chance of getting rid of the influence that it buys.

Neither of the wonderful things you mention about culture are good enough to stop a fraudulent war that was mismanaged by a bunch of incompetents and has resulted in nearly 3,800 American military lives and countless civilians. I'd rather have a culture that supports life (so much for the Republican's pro-life stance) than a culture of war and hubris.

In reading the comment by windrider2 I noticed there was no mention of language or culture or patriotism. Every concern mentioned was about money. Tancredo is correct, illegal immigration is the greatest threat to America the culture, America the English speaking society and America the place where animal cruelty and abuse of women is still unexceptable. To globalists like Bush it's all about the money, to me it's all about the culture. I'm an old guy, maybe you younger people don't give a damn about culture, but you will.
JK

Hmmmmm, a 2.4 TRILLION dollar tab (so far) for two wars, neither of which we are winning, a third war with Iran on the planning books, a military stretched to the breaking point, the dollar is tanking, the price of oil is skyrocketing, the housing market is in the toilet with millions of foreclosures, American wages stagnating, tens of millions without access to health insurance and Tancredo thinks that illegal immigration is the BIGGEST problem this country faces? That boy's elevator doesn't go to the top floor, that's for sure.

Let's not forget that former Presendente Fox was in Los Angeles a few weeks ago. There he officially named a new political party and registered voters. There was a skirmish when one attendee accused Fox of hand picking candidates in Mexico. In September, addressing his Country; Mexican Presedent Calderon called on the U.S. to give up its sovereignty and submit to the inheritant superiority (meaning Mexico). All of this is a result of Bush's somewhat hidden agenda. His idea of the North American Union. He is responsible for Mexican officals walking on our soil for their own agenda. He has made us look weak and so they stomp on us. Americans are fed up and Bush is not the king. He is leading us into a war right here at home. Illegal immigration is a big deal. So far, I would vote for Tancredo.

Eating a little humble pie. I found the following page. It asserts that Romney has contributed about $17.5 million to his own campaign, and has approximately that amount of debt (not sure if that means his own contributions were loans, or what.)

Anyway, that brings him down below Giuliani, but still ahead of the rest of the pack.

Tancredo did not abandon his House seat. If you had read his statement, he said that there was nothing more he could do in the House. Time to move on. His district is heavily Republican and is secure. There is only so much you can do when your party has a nut case globalist at the helm. When Bush cracker head leaves who knows what will happen especially if he is replaced by Clinton sporting a hammer and sickle.

It's very disappointing when professional reporters continue to assert that Romney is one of the top fundraisers in the Republican field. Please take a closer look: without Romney's PERSONAL contributions to his own war chest, he's somewhere around fourth or fifth place, behind Giuliani, Thompson, and (I think) even Ron Paul and John McCain.

As for him languishing, a major reason is that the MSM is completely corrupt and refuses to do their job and discuss immigration matters in a grown-up fashion, whether in their coverage or at the "debates".

A couple of the "debates" had no questions about this topic at all, and the others only asked superficial questions instead of calling the top candidates on their lies and misleading and incomplete statements.